Category Archives: Titanic

Titanic

Titanic Quarter Property Company In £20m Loss

The BBC is reporting the property company developing Titanic Quarter in Belfast lost £20m. The loss is attributed to a one-off payment of £13m to the charitable trust that owns the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction. Administrative fees also rose to £19 million from £7 million. A write-down in investment properties makes the total loss after taxes £22 million.

In a word, ouch.

Needless to say, they are trying to restructure and negotiating with Ulster Bank over £75m in loans.

Source: BBC, Titanic Quarter Property Company In £20m Loss, 5 Nov 2012


Titanic, Titanic Exhibitions

Grand Rapids Museum Unveils Great Lakes Shipwrecks Exhibit;Titanic Exhibit In February 2013

The Great Lakes has seen scores of shipwrecks lost to nature, poor seamanship, bad designs, and just plain bad luck. A new exhibit at the Grand Rapids Public Museum shows how 13 ships all met their end and why. The exhibit opens 10 Nov and includes information about the SS Milwaukee, Carl D. Bradley and the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition will open in February 2013.

The exhibit is free with general admission. For information on hours, tickets and other information, go to grmuseum.org.


 

Titanic

The Clarke Papers-More Grist For Conspiracy Theories

Ever so often there is a new Titanic controversy to stir things up. There have been a lot of them over the years from brittle steel to allegations the salvagers damaged Titanic. One fact about Titanic has never been in doubt–there were not enough lifeboats. The reason was (then) regulations that determined the number not on passenger capacity but on ship size. Government set those rules for the shipbuilders to follow and the British enquiry absolved it of responsibility. Titanic met all the legal requirements (and a bit more). And it was still inadequate for the catastrophe that occurred that cold night in April 1912.

Recent documents up for auction add more fuel to the lifeboat controversy.  Captain Maurice Clarke, a trade safety and emigration official with British Board of Trade, was assigned the task of inspecting Titanic as Safety Officer. He inspected the ship prior to its maiden voyage. He wrote Titanic did not have enough lifeboats but noted “….it was not possible to double the number of lifeboats from 20 to 40 to cover ‘all hands’ due to cost and extra manning.” He did think increasing the lifeboat number by fifty percent was advisable. His notes cover inspections on Thursday 4th, Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th April. And they detail lifeboat drills, tests and inventory checks along with the sad fact Titanic only had six life buoys. His advice for more lifeboats was ignored by White Star (they did the same, it ought to be noted, when Harland & Wolfe also suggested more lifeboats). White Star, he believes, put pressure on Board of Trade to prevent anything done on this matter.

Clarke testified at the British enquiry on 17 June 1912 and said nothing about this on the official record. Henry Aldrige, who is auctioning off these notes and no doubt wants to increase their value states:

“These documents effectively rewrite an important element of the Titanic story proving that even after 100 years, new facts are coming to light about the sinking.”

It does raise certain questions as to why the issue was never brought up. However the simplest answer is circle the wagons mentality at play. No doubt the Board of Trade, under fire for poor lifeboat regulations, wanted nothing of this to come out. Government lawyers probably looked at it carefully concluding saying nothing was the better posture. Putting it on the record that Clarke had recommended more lifeboats means more questions asked of Board of Trade and possibly of White Star itself. Clarke was likely told to keep quiet unless specifically asked. And he was likely told he would be fired if he said anything or anything got out to the press about his recommendation. Also the lawyers pointed out Titanic met all regulations when it launched. If White Star did not want more lifeboats, that was their problem and not the Board of Trade’s.

The Clarke notes add some interesting information but Aldridge is off. It does not rewrite the story. The fact that White Star did not want more lifeboats is already well known. We also know Board of Trade regulations were inadequate and many ship owners also concurred with not putting more lifeboats on ships. Of course after Titanic they quickly did so. Did White Star pressure Board of Trade? The real question is whether they needed to. Was anyone other than Clarke raising concerns within this regulatory body? I rather doubt it but one would have to look at the internal records to see what was going on (assuming such records exist). It would be easy to run off and wave the notes as proof White Star controlled the Board of Trade. More likely a very cozy relationship at times between government and private sector. Which is why White Star did not have to lift a finger to stop Clarke. And no one from the Board of Trade was held accountable for those inadequate regulations.

I can guess, with great certainty, that in due course opinions and books will be written proving this or that conspiracy theory about Titanic’s sinking. Most of it will be gibberish based upon shreds of some truth to sell their point of view. Heck it might even generate a miniseries. However there is less here than it seems, so be very careful in hanging your hat on proving a White Star-Titanic-Board of Trade corruption case unless you plan to write fiction.

Sources:
1. The Independent, Man Responsible For Making Titanic Seaworthy Had Request For 50% More Lifeboats Knocked Back, New Documents Reveal, 2 Nov 2012

2. The Telegraph, Titanic Safety Officer Warned Ship Needed ’50 Per Cent More Lifeboats’, 31 Oct 2012


Titanic

Titanic Artifacts Sold For $189 Million

Reuters reported yesterday that Premiere Exhibitions has found a buyer for the Titanic collection. The reported sale price is $189 million to a group that is not identified.

Artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic are set to be sold for $189 million by Premier Exhibitions Inc, the company that holds the salvage rights to the doomed ocean liner. Premier’s shares jumped 18 percent on Tuesday, after it said in a regulatory filing it had signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell the artifacts for $189 million to an unnamed group of individuals. “(The buyers) are obviously a group of significant means because they have to have the resources to display and care for the artifacts and they have to be suitable for court approvals,” said Bill Vlahos, portfolio manager at hedge fund Odyssey Value Partners, which holds a stake in Premier. Premier officials said on a conference call Monday that the firm expects the deal to satisfy all of the court’s conditions.

It will interesting to learn who this group is. Three possibilities come to mind: 1)Government owned museums or an alliance of them; 2)Private group with very deep pockets that already own or control museums; 3)A company or consortium already in business and wants to keep the Titanic exhibitions alive.

Source: Reuters, Titanic Artifacts Collection To Be Sold For $189 Million, 16 Oct 2012

Titanic

Titanic Musings

Titanic Musings
2 Oct 2012

Autumn is here and Halloween four weeks way. After a cool summer, a heatwave is hitting San Francisco Bay Area. It usually warms up this time of year with temps in the 70’s and 80’s inland. When one of those nasty hot air bubbles decides to sit over us though, we roast as our air conditioning (fog) is turned off. Beaches become places where people can actually sunbathe and it is hot enough for the pinecones to open up.

Coming back from summer, Titanic continues to create news. Exhibitions are always opening or closing, some new discovery is being revealed, and of course politicians continue using the Titanic Cliche with abandon to score political points. Here are several recent headlines from the news site:

  • Titanic Exhibition Docks In Shreveport
  • ‘Titanic’ Steers Big Year At The Henry Ford
  • 10 Years Later, Little Justice In Africa’s Titanic
  • Inflatable Titanic Slide Causing Controversy
  • Titanic Survivor’s Descendants Reunite In North Dakota
  • Titanic Captain Failed Navigation Test
  • Titanic Belfast Hits The Half Million Mark For Visitors

That headline about Captain Smith failing a navigation test is very interesting. If you have read sea novels, like C.S. Forester’s Hornblower books, life aboard ships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was hard work and came with harsh punishments. The Royal Navy had well run ships but they had a system to train officers and rate noncommissioned. Merchant ships were a different story and stories of drunken sailors running them had a ring of truth to them. Water stored in wooden casks went off with nasty green stuff in it so alcohol was the preferred liquid refreshment. The Royal Navy had daily rum rations with lime (to prevent scurvy) but stories of merchant ships with drunken sailors and officers compelled a system be created to make professional officers and seamen. Hence the requirement for Masters and Mates certificates that began in 1850 in Britain. You had to sit for examinations in order to get those certificates so many had to sober up. The system is still in place today (with updates for our modern times) but the goal is the same: that merchant ships be led by officers who are professionals and mates who also understand how to make the ship run. Ancestry.com has put up a compilation of records from 1850-1927. Compiled in partnership with the British National Maritime Museum, it gives glimpse into how these things were done. And it turns out that the future Titanic captain, Edward James Smith, failed his first examination due to lack of navigation skills. Just some of the nuggets of information to be found.

Kids love slides (and least I have observed this fact often) but the Titanic slide shown here always generates controversy. Many argue it belittles what happened to all those who perished. And that point is valid. Symbols are important things and convey messages. Titanic went down and people died, which is not something to make fun of. And the slide, in its own way, trivializes what happened and reduces all to a slide for kids entertainment. The other side of the argument is that the kids enjoy the slide and it is no big deal. Now I disagree with that point of view but understand it. Some do not want to attach any connection to the real tragedy. And that is a shame. They ought to. Once we disconnect from appreciating such tragedies, it is all too easy to make light of things like the Holocaust, the excesses of Stalin or Mao or Pol Pot, and wear shirts that glorify a killer like Che Guevara.

Many in Senegal do not want to forget what happened on 26 September 2002 on the ferry Joola. The ferry was dangerously overcrowded in rough seas when it sank. The official death toll is 1,863, higher than Titanic although many claim they figure is closer to 2,000.The captain died and the government closed the book in 2003 with compensation to survivors and families. Yet as Radio Netherlands reports there is a lot of bitterness over how quickly the government investigation ended. They want a new investigation as to how the ferry was overcrowded in the first place and allowed to leave. Some maritime regulations were tightened in the end but many think the government covered up the guilty parties. Sounds familiar to anyone who has studied Titanic and the investigations that were done.

Sometimes Titanic comes up in courts of law but not in ways expected. An Irish court was recently asked to decide who got a 16ft replica. Carmel McGrath claimed she paid costs of building the replica that a Zoltan Panka removed from her home without permission. She wanted it returned fearing he would sell it. Panka disputes her claims but the court ordered him to disclose the replica’s location to McGrath’s lawyers and that it be inspected. Panka, who lived with McGrath since 2009, claims half ownership and spent many  hours working on it. He was kicked after she suspected he was seeing another woman. A recent update indicates both parties settled out of court.

Of course being in Halloween season, ghostly things about Titanic are reported. I am certain a news story will appear soon about “strange” things going on around a Titanic exhibit. Strange sounds, odors, perhaps a glimpse of someone who looks, well, dated. And of course there is the Mummy. Yes, Titanic has a mummy curse. As I say often to people on my discussion list, Marvin the Martian is more likely to have caused the sinking. Only that rascally rabbit got in the way.

Titanic

Titanic Musings-Premiere Revenues Up, Ballard Helps Out Turkey, Lusitania Questions, and MasterChef

Titanic Musings
18 Jul 2012

Take some time off to come back to find lots of news stories to sift through! Actually it was not that bad since I filter out a lot of stories that have no bearing to Titanic at all. Some just mention Titanic as a descriptive like “it was a match of titans” or it was a “Titanic event. ” Of course there are the usual cliches like the infamous “rearranging desk chairs” that seem never to go out of style. Pity that politicians just seem to love to use Titanic. It crosses borders and parties as well.

Over at Premier Exhibitions, the word seems to be silence. No word on what is going except that negotiations are continuing regarding the artifact sale. They got title to the salvaged artifacts but can only sell it as one piece limiting sales to only mega corporations, museums or consortiums with very deep pockets, or wealthy oil princes in the Middle East. Perhaps China will buy it up and make it a tourist attraction. Stranger things have happened.

Premiere Exhibitions reported that its profits are up for the first three months that ended 31 May. They report a 9 percent jump resulting in $1.2 million or 2 cents a share.  Last year at the same time it was $1.1 million and 2 cents a share. Overall revenues (before expenses) were up 19 percent to $11.5 million from $9.7 million. Their acquisition of Arts and Exhibitions International LLC–which has King Tut II, Cleopatra and Real Pirates (and others) as part of its programs–added to the bottom line. Ticket prices however went down during the period (no doubt to attract people) by 7.6 percent.

Titanic II appears to be rolling along. Still in the planning stages (actual construction has not yet started) but Clive Palmer already has said he will likely exclude everyone but first class passengers from its casino. He says he did not want people not able to lose money to go there. Nice sentiments but Las Vegas has no such qualms. As long as your money is good (and not one their list of banned people) you can gamble as you wish. Some people do get foolish and gamble too much. There are some who do get addicted to gambling but that is a special category. And those people, like alcoholics, need counseling to deal with this problem. Palmer likes to remind that Titanic II will have all the latest in safety technologies, be wider than the original for stability, and offer nice amenities. Hopefully they will not serve Titanic shaped ice cubes in the bars.

Robert Ballard has been in the news recently. The Turkish government asked him to assist in locating the downed fighter craft shot down by Syria. Since his ship was docked in Turkey already for an expedition, he went out and located it in Syrian waters. Still up for debate is whether the Syrians had any legal right to shot it down (if it was in their airspace they will claim they had the right while Turkey says they did not). Ballard’s ship Nautilus is exploring the Black and Mediterranean seas this summer looking for Byzantine era ships and to observe marine life. You can check out their progress at www.nautiluslive.org.

An article in the Daily Mail once again asks the question whether or not Lusitania was carrying illegal munitions that contributed to its sinking in 1915. On 7 May 1915, a German submarine torpedoed the liner which sank rapidly taking 1,198 lives. Controversy swirled from the very beginning because there were two explosions. One was the torpedo and the other no can ascertain for sure. Some speculate it was munitions for the war in Europe put on board illegally, others that it was coal that ignited as a result of the torpedo. Greg Bemis, who is co-owner of the wreck and believes that it went down as result of illegal munitions, is conducting dives to the wreck to determine what happened. The wreck lies 300 feet down off the coast of Ireland near Cobh (Titanic docked there in 1912 but it was Queenstown then). The water is murky making it hard to see and cutting into the hull takes time. Weather of course makes it difficult. All of this is for a documentary that will reveal what they found.

It was a major news story back in 1915. Europe was at war with England/France/Russia on one side vs. Germany/Austria/Turkey on the other. Lusitania was a civilian vessel and many Americans were aboard. The German embassy had placed notices in newspapers warning such ships were subject to attack. The German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare allowed them to target military and civilian vessels of its enemies. Its sinking angered America and President Wilson. However it did not lead to American entry into the war (that came in 1918 thanks to the infamous Zimmerman Telegram). Like people who believe President Roosevelt knowingly allowed the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941, there are those who argue the same for Lusitania. They argue the British (in particular Churchill) wanted the Americans in the war and put the illegal munitions on the ship knowing the Germans would get the blame when they torpedoed her. No real proof exists (though lots have been written to support it) that is the case.  A lot of post-World War I history is written from the point of view, that America was sucked into that war by the British and that Lusitania was part of it.

Turning away from Titanic, I have been watching MasterChef(Fox-USA). I like this show. Unlike the other shows (except maybe for Food Network Food Star) all of the participants are amateurs and mostly home cooks. A few have some restaurant experience as food runners, servers, burger flippers, or breakfast serving, but most learned from just doing it at home sometimes with their parents or others around them. What is surprising is the creativeness and quality of dishes presented. The judges–Joe Bastianich, Graham Elliot, and Gordon Ramsey–put the aspiring MasterChefs through a lot of hurdles to get the best of the best. Along the way you get interesting challenges and personalities. This season has also seen lots of changes. Obviously aware that shows like these become predictable, they have chosen to shake things up to make it less so. For instance, usually at the end of a mystery box challenge they call down the three best they want to try. However at the first one, the three they called down were judged by them (they walk around and taste the dishes and talk with the cheftestants) to be the worst. They also have mixed up the elimination challenges by having the winner select who cooks what in that challenge. It adds a lot more stress and strategy. Choose right and you might send home someone who was a competitor. On the other hand, you might end up helping the very people you want to eliminate as Ryan found out to his embarrassment. Sadly some of the challenges send favorites away like Josh (who really excelled in most challenges but the egg pressure test was his doom). Christine, who is blind, has proved to be very creative in her dishes despite an obvious impediment.

And it is never certain who wins or loses. For instance, Ryan was pleased to think that Monti had screwed it up by using canned crab to make scotch eggs. At first Gordon thought she was nuts but upon tasting realized it was delicious. Tali, never known for anything particularly great, did produce a delicious strawberry shortcake while Becky, a front runner, produced a trifle that looked beautiful but was very bad. So the show keeps you guessing as to whether the people you think are good will in fact cook well to survive to the next round. The worst offenders are easy to spot. Generally they serve undercooked food, miss key components required, or poorly executed dishes. Or you do something totally bizarre like baking cheddar cheese on top of your apple pie or putting unthinkable combinations in risotto. You know how bad it is when Joe takes your dish and tosses it into the trash. Your only hope is someone has done worse (and that has happened). Give MasterChef a watch. I think you will like it.

Sources:
1.Businessweek, Premier Exhibitions 1Q Profit Up, Attendance Rises, 12 Jul 2012

2. Herald Sun, Clive Palmer reveals detailed plans for Titanic II,17 Jul 2012

3. Washington Post, As Titanic’s Discoverer Does Research At Sea, Armchair Explorers Can Watch Online, 16 Jul 2012

4. Daily Mail,Was The Lusitania Our War Crime: 1198 Passengers Died When The Liner Sank, 13 Jul 2012

 

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Titanic, Titanic Miscellaneous

Lesson To Editors-Watch Your Titanic Facts Or Face The Wrath Of Kids

Back in April Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post contributing editor, wrote about Titanic books but got the date it sank wrong. He wrote it sank on 15 April. Oops! That prompted a letter, actually a very large one, from a fifth grade class at Burning Tree Elementary School in Bethesda, Maryland.

Kids Correct Washington Post
5th Graders Correct Washington Post On Titanic Sinking Date

 

 

Dear Mr. Drabelle,
    We are fifth grade students at Burning Tree ES in Besthesda, Maryland and we have been studying the Titanic’s tragic sinking and the lives of some of the survivors. In your April 15, 2012 edition of The Washington Post, you stated that the Titanic hit the iceberg on April 15, 1912. Based on our research, the Titanic hit the iceberg shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912.
Sincerely,
    Mrs. Reed’s fifth grade class

That about says it all. Here endeth the lesson.

Source:

Huffington Post, Washington Post Receives ‘Adorable’ Letter From Fifth Graders Correcting Mistake In Titanic Story, 11 Jul 2012

Titanic, Titanic Cliches

Titanic Musings: New Titanic Book, Titanic 3D, and Titanic Cliche of Day

•Titanic has generated lots of books over the years covering every conceivable point of view. Of course with 100th anniversary of Titanic sinking, a lot more books have come out. Some are excellent, good, or just plain bad. The worst simply repeat what others have written (including obvious errors of fact) claiming to be original work. Fortunately the reviewers for The Titanic Commutator (published by the Titanic Historical Society) help sort out which ones are worth reading to those best used for lining bird cages or kindling for your wood stove. Mark Chirnside reviewed On A Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of RMS Titanic giving it a thumbs up for its well written approach to the subject. The book also offers new insights and information along with examining some current controversies.

On A Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of RMS Titanic
Tad Fitch, J. Kent Layton & Bill Wormstedt
Amberly Publishing, 2012

•Titanic 3D broke new records as people all over the world flocked to see Jack and Rose in 3D especially during the Titanic anniversary. Ticket sales hit $2.3 billion which includes $88 million overseas. Proves you can draw a crowd to see an already popular movie but many industry people still are not sold on 3D. It may be, as many predicted, just the right time and place for it again until the public tires of it. Are we ready for 3D Star Wars?

•Mithika Mwenda, coordinator for campaign group the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance made a statement recently at the UN Doha Climate talks about the slow progress of negotiations. And this is where the comparison to Titanic comes in:

“This is like the Titanic, where both developing countries and industrialized countries will sink.”

Congratulations! You have been awarded the oft imitated, never duplicated award for Titanic Cliche of Day. I am just wondering if Titanic and dinosaurs will soon be connected!

Source:
The Republic(Reuters), Analysis: UN Doha Climate Talks Risk Sinking “Like Titanic”,24 May 2012

 

 

Titanic

Titanic Musings-Just Trying To Quiet The Kids

If you watch the judge shows–Judge Alex, Judge Judy, The People’s Court–you learn people do all kinds of dumb things. We have a fellow in Washington state that got upset about kids making noise while watching Titanic 3-D. Instead of doing the sensible thing of getting theatre staff to handle problems, he decides to act on his own. After telling the kids to be quiet, he gets mad later and allegedly throws an iced drink and punched one of the kids in the face. The man, Yong Hyun Kim, was there with his girlfriend. He claims that kids were tossing popcorn at him and girlfriend, running back and forth in the aisle, and bumping them.

Yong, 31, is facing second-degree assault charges and will be arraigned on 31 May. If convicted, faces three to nine months in jail. Now anyone who has been to the movies at some point encounters this situation. It might be mischievous youths, make-out sessions for couples, someone who had too much to drink and talking loudly. Yong was foolish in doing what he did. The adult way is to simply go out and tell the appropriate people in charge about it. They will usually take care of it (and in my experience they do). Source: Fox News .
***
Premiere Exhibitions just released latest figures which indicate losses in fourth quarter went down due to lower operating expenses. Quarter revenues dropped to $7.54 million from $9.76 million from previous quarter. Expenses decreased to $5.86 million from $7.06 million last year. No word yet about the Titanic auction. It seems suspiciously quiet after all the noise made about auctioning off the artifacts. Source: RTT News.

***
Funny thing happened to me. I got the latest issue of Titanic Commutator or rather the envelope with nothing inside. Never had that happen before. Looked like the adhesive never worked so somewhere out there in the sea of mail is the missing issue. Fortunately a quick email to the membership person at Titanic Historical Society got me a new copy.

***
If you are in San Francisco with time on your hands and like old ships, consider heading down to Hyde Street Pier near Fisherman’s Wharf. It costs you nothing to enter and walk around the pier, but you do have to pay a fee if you want board any of the ships (one fee covers it all). The old sailing ship Balclutha (often used in movies) is there along with an old ferry, a seagoing tug Hercules, and other nifty craft you can explore. Also the old ferry has a neat collection of old cars to look at. You can get information by clicking here. Check weather forecast before you go. Sometimes it can get pretty breezy on the pier. On nice days, you get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. If you decide to go, the easy way is by bus (parking is expensive in the area and street parking difficult). Take a 30 Stockton or 47 Van Ness to Hyde Street and walk down the hill right to the pier. Or take the Hyde Street Cable car. The bus costs $2.00 and the cable car $6.00.